{"id":538659,"date":"2026-03-15T20:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T20:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/538659\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T20:26:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T20:26:13","slug":"connor-mcdavid-believes-nhl-should-do-review-of-player-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/538659\/","title":{"rendered":"Connor McDavid believes NHL should do review of player safety"},"content":{"rendered":"

The conversation surrounding supplemental discipline in the NHL doesn’t appear to be quieting down. <\/p>\n

After the league handed Radko Gudas a five-game suspension for a knee-on-knee collision that ended Auston Matthews<\/a>‘s season, the decision has put the discipline process in the spotlight.<\/p>\n

Among those weighing in was Edmonton Oilers<\/a> star Connor McDavid<\/a>, who acknowledged the difficulty of the job but suggested the process itself may need another look.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think player safety has done their best,\u201d McDavid said. \u201cIt\u2019s not an easy thing to do. With that being said, I think there is reason to take a look at how the whole process works.\u201d<\/p>\n

While McDavid couldn’t speak to the opinions owners and general managers might have about the league’s discipline protocols, he believes there is a disconnect on multiple levels. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf every time there\u2019s a suspension, everybody complains about it, why don\u2019t we take a look at the process and figure out if there\u2019s a better way to make sure both parties are happy?\u201d he said. \u201cIt seems like there\u2019s a lot of frustration there.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDavid is no stranger to the Department of Player Safety, previously suspended for three games because of a cross-check to Vancouver Canucks forward Conor Garland after he was interfered with and held down without a penalty call.<\/p>\n

“Why aren’t we protecting superstars?” Corey Perry, who was a teammate of McDavid, questioned at the time.<\/a> “Every other league does it. They protect their superstars.”<\/p>\n

During Saturday Headlines on Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving made a strong push for harsher discipline.<\/p>\n

According to Friedman, Treliving contacted the league and argued the play warranted a much longer suspension, pointing to the impact on the team and the league\u2019s marquee talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018This is bad for the league. It\u2019s our captain, it\u2019s our best player,’\u201d Friedman explained. \u201c\u2018Imagine if we were in a playoff race. Imagine if he lost playoff games to it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The Leafs also reportedly referenced previous discipline handed down to their own players \u2014 including a five-game suspension to Morgan Rielly and a six-game ban, later reduced to four, for Jason Spezza \u2014 while comparing the incident to a seven-game suspension given to Matt Cooke during the 2014 playoffs for kneeing Colorado\u2019s Tyson Barrie.<\/p>\n

The Anaheim Ducks, meanwhile, defended Gudas, noting the veteran defenceman had not been suspended in seven years.<\/p>\n

Complicating matters further was the role of the National Hockey League Players’ Association, which represents both Matthews and Gudas. Friedman reported the union presented data showing that kneeing suspensions historically trend shorter: one seven-game suspension, three four-game suspensions, nine two-game suspensions and three one-game bans over the past 15 years.<\/p>\n

That data illustrates the tightrope the league walks when determining discipline \u2014 balancing precedent, player safety and the competing interests of teams, players and the union.<\/p>\n

In its video explanation of the ruling, the Department of Player Safety said Gudas was responsible for ensuring the hit was delivered legally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important to note that Gudas is in control of this play,\u201d the league said. \u201cIf he wants to deliver this hit, the onus is on Gudas to ensure that he makes an approach that allows him to deliver a legal full-body check.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, the league said, Gudas led with an extended knee that resulted in a \u201cforceful, dangerous and direct knee-on-knee collision.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The conversation surrounding supplemental discipline in the NHL doesn’t appear to be quieting down. After the league handed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":{"0":"post-538659","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-edmonton"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}